KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar on Saturday said that the MQM and Mohajir community could not be separated and the party would retain its traditional vote bank whenever elections were held.

Speaking at a press conference at the temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad, Dr Sattar said those doing politics for the Urdu-speaking community could be divided, but the MQM proved that the Mohajir vote remained undivided. “The people were with us yesterday and they are with us today ... those considering MQM a dead entity will be disappointed in the 2018 general elections,” he said.

Dr Sattar said that he respected the judiciary and legal consultations with regard to his arrest were under way when he was asked if he would surrender before an antiterrorism court that had recently directed the Rangers’ director general to arrest him and Amir Khan in a case pertaining to the Aug 22 incendiary speech of MQM founder Altaf Hussain and subsequent violence.

Accompanied by Senator Farogh Nasim, Rauf Siddiqui and others, the MQM-P chief said his party was of the opinion that the Aug 22 case should have been registered against only those who raised anti-Pakistan slogans. “We have rejected that slogan but they are dragging us into this case. This FIR must be quashed.”

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2017